I visited San Tropez a couple years ago and it was absolutely beautiful. I saw extremely fit women of all ages laying on the beach and dining for long hours. However, I did also notice the higher prevalence of seeing French women smoke cigarettes as well - which is not a good exchange in habit.

In this recent story, nearly 42 percent of the French population older than 15 years has a weight problem, an ObEpi-Roche survey showed on Tuesday. Almost a third is overweight and 12.4 percent is obese.

Despite a notion that the French shun overeating and junk food, obesity is still on the rise, according to the study, which has been conducted every three years since 1997.